The Velvet Divorce The Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

The Velvet Divorce was the unofficial name given to the separation of Czechoslovakia into Slovakia and the Czech Republic in the early 1990s, earned because of the peaceful manner in which it was achieved. The State of Czechoslovakia At the end of the First World War, the German and Austrian/Hapsburg empires fell apart, enabling a set of new nation-states to emerge. One of these new states was Czechoslovakia. Czechs made up around fifty percent of the initial population and identified with a long history of Czech life, thought, and statehood; Slovaks comprised around fifteen percent, had a very similar language to the Czechs which helped bind the country together but had never been in their ‘own’ country. The rest of the population were German, Hungarian, Polish, and others, left by the problems of drawing boundaries to replace a polyglot empire. In the late 1930s, Hitler, now in charge of Germany, turned his eye first on Czechoslovakia’s German population, and then on large parts of the country, annexing it. World War II now followed, and this ended with Czechoslovakia being conquered by the Soviet Union; a communist government was soon in place. There were struggles against this regime—the ‘Prague Spring of 1968’ saw a thaw in communist government that bought invasion from the Warsaw Pact and a federalist political structure—and Czechoslovakia remained in the ‘eastern bloc’ of the Cold War. The Velvet Revolution At the end of the 1980s, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was faced with protests across Eastern Europe, the impossibility of matching the military spending of the west, and the urgent need for internal reforms. His response was as surprising as it was sudden: he ended the Cold War at a stroke, removing the threat of Soviet-led military action against former communist vassals. Without Russian armies to support them, communist government fell  across Eastern Europe, and in the autumn of 1989, Czechoslovakia experienced a widespread set of protests which became known as the ‘Velvet Revolution’ because of their peaceful nature and their success: the communists decided not to use force to hang on and negotiated a new government, and free elections were held in 1990. Private business, democratic parties, and a new constitution followed, and Và ¡clav Havek became the President. The Velvet Divorce The Czech and Slovak populations in Czechoslovakia had been drifting apart over the course of the state’s existence, and when the gunpoint cement of communism had gone, and when the newly democratic Czechoslovakia came to discuss the new constitution and how to govern the nation, they found many issues dividing the Czechs and Slovaks. There were arguments over the varying sizes and growth rates of the twin economies, and of the power each side had: many Czechs felt the Slovaks had too much power for their respective numbers. This was exacerbated by a level of local federalist government which had created government ministers and cabinets for each of the two largest populations, effectively blocking full integration. There was soon talk of separating the two into their own states. Elections in 1992 saw Vaclav Klaus become Prime Minister of the Czech region and Vladimir Meciar Prime Minister of the Slovak one. They had different views on policy and wanted different things from government, and were soon discussing whether to tie the region closer together or split it apart. People have argued that Klaus now took a lead in demanding a division of the nation, while others have argued Meciar was a separatist. Either way, a break seemed likely. When Havel encountered resistance he resigned rather than oversee the separation, and there wasn’t a statesman of sufficient charisma and sufficient support to replace him as a president of a unified Czechoslovakia. While politicians weren’t sure whether the general public supported such a move, negotiations developed in such a peaceful manner as to earn the name ‘Velvet Divorce.’ Progress was swift, and on December 31st, 1992 Czechoslovakia ceased to exist: Slovakia and the Czech Republic replaced it on January 1st, 1993. Significance The fall of communism in Eastern Europe led not just to the Velvet Revolution, but to the bloodshed of Yugoslavia when that state collapsed into warfare and an ethnic cleansing which still haunts Europe. The dissolution of Czechoslovakia made a stark contrast, and it proved that states can divide peacefully and that new states can form without the need for warfare. The Velvet Divorce also bought stability to central Europe at a time of great unrest, allowing the Czechs and Slovaks to sidestep what would have been a period of intense legal and political wrangling and cultural tension, and instead focus on state building. Even now, relations remain good, and there is very little in the way of calls for a return to federalism.

Customer Relationship Management Customer Satisfaction...

In the modern economy a priority of business activities becomes a two-way communication between the company and its customers. This communication is based on the interests of both sides: companies that seek to profit, survive and grow, and customers who want to achieve added value. The most successful companies today are those that create their business processes in line with customer expectations (Habul Velic, 2010). Customers are the most important asset of an organization. There cannot be any business prospects without satisfied customers who remain loyal and develop their relationship with the organization. That is why an organization should plan and employ a clear strategy for managing treating customers. CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is the strategy for building, , and strengthening loyal and longlasting customer relationships. CRM has two main objectives: Customer retention through customer satisfaction and Customer development through customer insight (Tsiptsis and Chorianopoulos, 2009). CRM technologies are the tools enabling the firms to get the right information to the right person at the right time and are divided into three parts of, communicational, operational and analytical‘ technologies (Keramati et al., 2010). To succeed with CRM and address the aforementioned objectives, organizations need to gain insight into customers, their needs, and wants through data analysis. This is where analytical CRM comes in. Analytical CRM is about analyzingShow MoreRelatedGlobal Issue : New Information Technology Initiatives1625 Words   |  7 Pagesthese initiatives in the company. The 3 initiatives are customer relationship management (CRM), business intelligence (BI) analytics, and agile development methodology. 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The Secret Circle The Hunt Chapter 31 Free Essays

Cassie arrived back at her house in a cold sweat. Her clothes had been splashed wet from her furious rowing; she’d wanted to get as far away from the caves as fast as she could. Now she was safe in her bedroom, but she was alone – she’d never been so alone in her entire life. We will write a custom essay sample on The Secret Circle: The Hunt Chapter 31 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Her friends and her one true love were lost to her. Her mother was out, but even if she were home, how could Cassie explain this terrible series of events, especially when it began with her disobeying her mother’s warning? This was all her fault. And only she could fix it. It was just Cassie, now, and her book. She turned to where it was resting on her desk among loose pens and paper clips, misleadingly tranquil. Because it was only posing as a book. It wasn’t just a bunch of pages sewn together within a cover – it was an entity, alive as she was. Cassie understood that now. She took the book into her hands and sat with it on the edge of her bed, holding it in her lap. She remembered the last time she had sat like this, in this same position, when her mother first presented her with it. Cassie had made so many mistakes since then. Cassie ran her fingers over the book’s aged, leather binding. When her mother first offered it to her she’d told Cassie that in the wrong hands, it could be extremely dangerous. But what she hadn’t known then was that even in the right hands it was extremely dangerous. Her mother had assured her that she was strong enough to handle it, but she wasn’t. Cassie wasn’t nearly strong enough then. She was now. Cassie traced the embossment of the book’s cover symbol with the tip of her pointer finger. She dug her fingernails into the indentations already scratched into its surface. The book still felt cruel in her hands, but this time would be different. This time she knew exactly what she was in for, and she would do it right. She took a deep breath and cracked the book open again, as if for the first time. Her eyes immediately melded to the page, to the words scrawled upon the paper’s yellowed surface. At first they appeared much the same as before, but then the text began to slowly wilt and lose its color. The squiggly lines and archaic symbols seemed to lighten and float up from the page. They reshaped and rearranged themselves into new forms, and the curl of each brushstroke straightened along a level plane of letters Cassie recognized. Suddenly she could decipher the book’s language and translate it at once to simple English. Specific words jumped out at her: spiritus immundus, evil spirit; daimonion, demon. Nytramancia, the black art. Some of the words formed into what Cassie understood were titles of other books. Das puch aller verpoten kunst, ungelaubens und der zaubrey. The Book of All Forbidden Arts, Heresy and Sorcery. De Exorcismis et Supplicationibus Quibusdam. Of Exorcisms and Certain Supplications. Sacrifices, Pacts. Conjurations, Commanding Spirits. These were the dark rites Cassie would have to learn in order to save her friends – and Adam. She must master the book’s evil, not be afraid of it, and not be ashamed of her connection to it. It was her destiny – there was no question. But she didn’t know how she was going to do it alone. How to cite The Secret Circle: The Hunt Chapter 31, Essay examples